Tom Hanks is considered one of the top Hollywood actors and his latest movie is a WW2 epic on Apple TV that takes place during legendary naval warfare. Tom Hanks returns to hit the screens with a different film about the Second World War, though this time on Apple TV+ rather than on the big screen. Greyhound, which was 10 years in the production, was released on the platform on 10 July. The question is either Greyhound inspired by WW2?
Greyhound Inspired by WW2
The movie explains the account of a U.S. Navy Captain, performed by Hanks, who is commissioned with protecting allied ships as they cross the North Atlantic to transport essential supplies to the UK.
The ships are seen passing through a notoriously dangerous section of the North Atlantic, known as the Black Pit while battling off German boats.
But just how much of the film is historically accurate, and how much is fiction?
While the film is not precisely based on a true story, there are parts of historical precision throughout.
Hanks’ character U.S Navy Captain Ernest Krause is not a real person, nor is the ship that he commands. Rather, the film’s storyline is based on the novel The Good Shepherd written by C.S. Forester in 1955.
Nevertheless, both the movie and the novel do revolve around the real WWII battle, The Battle of the Atlantic.
The battle lasted from 1939 until the German surrender in 1945, making it the longest military battle during the Second World War.
The film tries to explain many of the very real circumstances that were faced by the military at the time, such as the lack of communication and the difficulties of early radar systems.
While the ship in the film, code-named Greyhound like the film’s title, was not a real ship, a real warship was used for filming. Much of the drama was shot on the USS Kidd, a decommissioned WWII-era destroyer.
Although the movie does not replicate any particular individual events or people, Hanks took the responsibility of portraying a precise depiction of the WWII event very sincerely.
